Public Power Underground

May 13 2024 21
Public Power Underground Podcast artwork

Public Power Underground is more than a discussion about public ownership of electric infrastructure, the infotaining episodes cover the energy enthusiast trifecta of electrification, markets, and people. The hosts interview industry experts on a broad range of energy industry and energy-industry-adjacent topics at the nexus of electric utilities and the energy transition. The podcast doesn’t take itself too seriously and frequently plays energy inspired games like “energy enthusiasm distilled,” “draw an analogy,” and “say something nice about electric utilities."

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Happy New Year from the Underground

Jan 07 2021 20 mins  
Public Power Underground is a pandemic diversion written, edited, and published by the Power Department. We cover Northwest public power and public-power-adjacent news with occasional special guest correspondents to talk about regional topics. In this week’s episodes we stuck to the basics: covering northwest market indicators with Arin Reports and running through public power an

Resource Adequacy week!

Jan 14 2021 41 mins  
It’s Resource Adequacy week on Public Power Underground! This week we were joined by Susan Ackerman to talk about the Northwest Power Pool’s Resource Adequacy program, Mark Ohrenschall to talk about NewsData’s upcoming webinar on Electric resource Adequacy in California and the West, and lastly by Mike Linn to talk about CAISO’s Summer 2021 readiness initiatives. It was a f

Breach-Ladder-Repower

Jan 21 2021 43 mins  
It’s Breach-Ladder-Repower week on Public Power Underground! This week we were joined by PPC’s Karen Heim on a re-vamped version of Slummin’ w/ the Underground where we had a lot of fun and toned down the overall seriousness we’ve gotten into with Public Power Underground. As always we started by covering northwest market indicators with Arin Reports and cover other public

Coalition of the Willing

Jan 28 2021 48 mins  
It’s Coalition of the Willing week on Public Power Underground! This week we were joined by BPA’s Rachel Dibble to talk about Resource Adequacy and PNGC’s Roger Gray to talk about a investigating a Northwest RTO/ISO. As always we started by covering northwest market indicators with Arin Reports and cover other public power and public-power-adjacent news on Public Power Deskto

It Takes a Process

Feb 04 2021 44 mins  
It’s It Takes a Process week on Public Power Underground! This week we were joined by Snohomish County PUD’s Manager of Power Supply, Garrison Marr to talk about IRPs, and returning champion, Friend of the Underground, and Rates and Policy Director for NRU, Megan Stratman to talk about revenue financing in BP-22. And in true Public Power Underground fashion, we’re debuting a

EVs and Great Stories

Feb 11 2021 50 mins  
It’s EVs and Great Stories week on Public Power Underground! This week we were joined by D&R International’s Sr. Director Electric Transportation, John Morris to talk about what electric vehicle manufacturers have in store for us(10:24), and we got an Oral History of the Energy News Digest (25:41) from Joel Myer (it’s Publisher) and Sarah Johnson (Clatskanie PUD’s Custo

Extreme Weather and Extreme Adventurer

Feb 18 2021 46 mins  
Power markets are a hot topic this week, and we didn’t shy away from diving into the conversation. It’s Extreme Weather and Extreme Adventurer week on Public Power Underground! On the first half of the episode we’re serious (for us) as we talk about Northwest power markets (02:34), have Ansergy’s Mike Griswold on to talk about next week’s market outlook (05:14), debrief o

Use Your Illusions of Choice

Feb 25 2021 54 mins  
It’s Use Your Illusions of Choice week on Public Power Underground! We’re excited to be joined by a slew of celebrities of the region this week to spice things up. Karen Heim joined as a guest co-host, (07:02) Matt Schroettnig interviews Bo Downen about the Simpson Concept, (32:52) Greg Mendonca talks about the NW Power Pool’s Resource Adequacy program, and (43:44) Kurt Mille

BREAKING NEWS

Mar 04 2021 56 mins  
We’re Breaking News this week on Public Power Underground! Arin Reports (03:04), APPA's profile of women in high-voltage trades (06:06), RMG Financials’ Reid Grossman joins to talk about counterparty credit in the aftermath of the winter freeze event (07:19), Debrief from BPA’s IRP 2 Workshop (23:03), Idaho Power’s Customer Growth (25:52), Guest Lede by PPC’s Aaron Bush o

Bonus Episode: The Scourge of Seasonal Time Change

Mar 10 2021 50 mins  
In a special, bonus, episode the Underground tackles The Scourge of Seasonal Time Change. Joining the Underground to tackle the issue is the Executive Director of the Pacific Northwest Utilities Conference Committee (PNUCC), Shauna McReynolds, the Power Resource Manager for PUD No 2 of Pacific County, Humaira Falkenberg, and the Executive Director of the Northwest Public Power Asso